Journal

Empathy is Critical in Today’s Marketing World

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines empathy as “the feeling that you understand and share another person's experiences and emotions: the ability to share someone else's feelings.”

This capacity to feel what others feel allows an understanding of their hopes, desires and needs. If you are able to step into the shoes of your customer and feel what they feel, then you can create the product, service and experience that they are searching for.

At Novel, we spend a lot of time getting to know the target audience of our clients. We know that without doing research, surveys and/or focus groups, we won't be able to resonate with your audiences in any transformative way. You can spend a lot of effort and resources on producing content that no one ever actually engages with because it doesn’t fit a need in their life.

In addition to familiarizing ourselves with your target audience, we like to interview your customers and the front-line team too. This allows us firsthand knowledge of how the current customer feels about the product and their experience with the brand. We now know that the way to sustainably grow a brand in the modern world is to have honest feedback that allows your team to learn and grow.

In addition to our work process, we have practices in our life that help us grow our capacity for empathy. Here are a few things that have worked well for us:

Meditation. Getting quiet allows you to listen to yourself. And by improving your ability to listen to yourself, you are improving your ability to listen to others. Learn how to listen deeply.

Join a small group that uses a method that utilizes experience sharing as a way to learn from each other—like the Gestalt method. Consider joining a group that doesn’t hold the same views as you so you can hold space with listening in a new way.

Ask the question, “How are you feeling?” more. This question helps you connect with people's experiences in a more meaningful way.